RSPB hails natterjack toad 'baby boom' at Lodge reserve

7 August 2017
From the sectionBeds, Herts & Bucks

Natterjacks are distinguished from common toads by the yellow stripe along their back

One of the UK's rarest toads is thriving at a nature reserve despite unfavourable spring breeding conditions, conservationists claim.

About 500 natterjack toadlets have been counted at the RSPB's The Lodge reserve near Sandy, Bedfordshire, - fives times more toads than were counted in 2016.

Another 2,000 tadpoles have also been identified and were an indication of a "baby boom", the charity said.

The protected toads are only found at 60 sites in the UK.

In 2016 just 100 toadlets emerged from the pools at the reserve, and fewer than 100 were counted the year before, warden Lizzie Bruce said.


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Tuatara: Chester Zoo celebrate breeding 'living fossil'

1 February 2016

A reptile believed to have pre-dated most species of dinosaur has hatched at Chester Zoo for the first time.

A conservationist has been trying to breed tuatara - which are native to New Zealand - for the last 38 years.

Isolde McGeorge said tuatara, which first appeared 225 million years ago, "really are a living fossil and an evolutionary wonder."

She said she "broke down in tears" when the reptile hatched and that it was an "incredible achievement".

It followed "lots of hard work, lots of stressful moments and lots of tweaking of the conditions", Ms McGeorge added.

"Tuatara lived before the dinosaurs and they survived after dinosaurs had died out," she said. "They really are a living fossil and an evolutionary wonder.

"To be the first zoo to ever breed them outside of their homeland in New Zealand is undoubtedly an amazing event."

Continued ...

Sumatran Tigers Finally Mate at National Zoo

Fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers are left in the wild, and as their numbers continue to dwindle, zoos are turning to captive breeding as a way to conserve the critically endangered species.

But captive cats don't always approach mating as if the survival of their species depends on it. That's why the Smithsonian's National Zoo excitedly announced this week that its two Sumatran tigers, Kavi and Damai, finally bred.

Zoo officials have documented the careful courtship process on their Tiger Diary blog. They said the tigers first met in the fall of 2012, and were initially only given visual access to each other, kept physically separated by a door. The two were finally brought together in December when Damai, the female, went into heat, and zoo officials prepared for a potentially volatile conjugal visit.

Continued:  http://www.livescience.com/25987-sumatran-tigers-captive-breeding.html

8 Bizarre Tentacled Snakes Born at National Zoo

 

For the first time in more than a decade, a group of tentacled snakes was born at the Smithsonian's National Zoo. 

The eight baby snakes, which sport little feelers on their noses, were born Oct. 21 after four years of unsuccessful breeding attempts, the zoo announced Thursday (Nov. 8).

The unusual aquatic species from Southeast Asia is not endangered, but researchers say it's poorly understood. The creatures, referred to as Erpeton tentaculatus in the scientific community, are relatively small, growing to about 20-35 inches (50-90 centimeters) in length, and they're the only snakes with two short tentacles on their snouts, which allow the reptiles to sense vibrations from fish that swim by. 

Continued:  http://www.livescience.com/24635-bizarre-tentacled-snakes-born.html

Greater Flamingos breeding at Abu Dhabi's Al Wathba Wetland Reserve

September 2012. 2012: The Greater flamingo has successfully bred once again at the Al Wathba Wetland Reserve in Abu Dhabi. Flamingos first bred in this area in 1998 and then again a decade later.

Al Wathba Wetland Reserve
Al Wathba Wetland Reserve, which lies about 45 minutes' drive from Abu Dhabi city, was declared protected by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, late President of the UAE, in 1998 after it was created by an accidental discharge of over-capacity treated sewage water from Al Mafraq Wastewater Treatment Plant. Sheikh Zayed's vision was to provide a suitable habitat for migratory birds and a breeding area for the Greater flamingo. Today, the reserve covers a total area of 5 km² and is managed by The Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD). It is home to nearly 250 species of birds that depend on the wetland for resting, feeding or breeding. It also provides a safe refuge for many species of reptiles, small mammals and insects. Internationally, the Reserve gained recognition when the Greater flamingo successfully bred at Al Wathba in 1999 while a 1993 flamingo breeding attempt at Al Wathba, foiled by human interference after a first chick had hatched, was the first known breeding in the Arabian Peninsula since 1922.

2000 flamingos
Today, over 2,000 Greater flamingos are present at AL Wathba and a high percentage of these are adult breeding birds. As part of the routine monitoring undertaken by EAD's Bird Conservation team, nests were recorded at several locations; however they successfully bred at the one site only.

The bird nested at the same site where they bred successfully on two previous occasions in 1998-99 and in 2011.The first eggs were spotted during the last week in May and the first new-born chick was recorded on June 27. More chicks were born on the following days. The 2012 nesting season saw 17 chicks born, similar to the number of chicks born in 2011.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/abu-dhabi-flamingos.html#cr

London Zoo Mountain Chicken Frogs Making A Comeback, Produce Offspring

Critically endangered frogs rescued from possible extinction at the hands of a deadly fungus have successfully bred for the first time at the London Zoo, various media outlets reported Sunday.

According to Telegraph Science Correspondent Richard Gray, the mountain chicken frogs had been rescued from the island of Montserrat, where they had been threatened by the spread of the Chytrid fungus. Chytridiomycosis, a disease associated with that microbe have been wreaking havoc on amphibians all over the world, leading scientists to rescue 50 of the frogs and airlift them to the UK.

“Housed in a bio-secure, temperature-controlled breeding unit at the Zoological Society of London, two of the rescued females have now produced 76 young,” Gray said. “The mothers laid eggs in a self-made foam nest and guarded them as they developed into tadpoles, which they then fed every three to five days with unfertilized eggs… The offspring will be released back into a protected and disease-free area of the wild when they are fully grown.”

“We’re absolutely chuffed to bits,” Dr. Ian Stephen, a herpetologist at the zoo, told BBC Nature Reporter Matt Bardo. Twelve of the 50 rescued mountain chicken frogs were transported to the London Zoo, where they have been living in a biologically secure breeding unit since their arrival, Bardo said. Stephen told the BBC that he is hopeful that most of the offspring will survive and be able to be returned to the Caribbean once they become adults.

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Continued:  http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112665540/london-zoo-mountain-chicken-frogs-comeback/